Online musical instruments retailer Gear4music saw its revenue increase by 36% to £42.5 million in its first half as it continues to invest in its online platform and customer proposition.

GENERAL MERCHANDISE

Gear4music revenues up 36%

16 October 2018 | by The Retail Bulletin

Online musical instruments retailer Gear4music saw its revenue increase by 36% to £42.5 million in its first half as it continues to invest in its online platform and customer proposition.

Revenue growth in the company’s more established UK market in the six months to 31 August was 34% while international growth reached 39% although the latter was held back by slower than expected stock build-up in its European distribution centres. It was also impacted by the physical limitations in Gear4music’s Swedish distribution centre, but this is being addressed with the move to a larger facility.

The number of visitors to Gear4music’s website climbed by 41% to 10.04 million in the period. In addition, conversion rates improved from 3.59% to 4.61% in the UK and from 2.14% to 2.20% in Europe.

Andrew Wass, Gear4music’s chief executive, said: “As the market for musical instruments and music equipment continues to transform and consolidate, we have strengthened our position as the UK's leading retailer within the market, having invested into our customer proposition, market leading ecommerce platform, and scalable infrastructure.

“As we continue to invest and focus on gaining market share, I am pleased to report that we have seen particularly strong revenue growth since 1 September 2018 alongside notable gross margin improvements on the H1 period. As such, we remain confident of delivering another year of strong revenue growth and EBITDA in line with our full year expectations."

Gear4music operates from a head office in York, a software development office in Manchester and distribution centres and showrooms in York, Sweden and Germany. Alongside its own-brand musical instruments and equipment, the company sells third-party brands such as Fender, Yamaha and Roland.

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